BBC Radio Cumbria

Twenty five years ago, miners in the north-east of England joined in a national strike over pit closures in what became one of the bitterest industrial disputes in recent times.

Supporting the strike plunged many mining families into poverty and communities were divided between those who went on strike and those who continued to, or returned to, work.

Arthur Scargill in 1984

When it began 170 collieries were open in Britain.

The strike ended in March 1985 and the National Union of Mineworkers' president, Arthur Scargill, declared it a "tremendous achievement".

But, that year, 25 pits closed down and many more followed.

Today, only a handful of deep coal mines still operate in Britain.

In the North East it's very much part of our industrial past.

Cortonwood - where it started

A recent Audit Commission report concluded that the pit closures had a more devastating impact on Easington in County Durham than anywhere else in the UK.

The BBC in the North East and Cumbria is marking the anniversary with a series of special reports.

We'll be returning to our former pit villages to discover what happened to the redundant miners and if time has healed old rifts.

We want to know if you have a story you'd like to tell us from that time.